Russia to Sign Final Mars Probe Deal in March | Science | RIA Novosti

Russia to Sign Final Mars Probe Deal in March

14:29 22/01/2013

MOSCOW, January 22 (RIA Novosti) – Russia’s space agency Roscosmos and its European counterpart the European Space Agency (ESA) will sign a final agreement on March 15 on the ExoMars project, whose goal is to send unmanned probes to Mars, Roscosmos spokeswoman Anna Vedisheva said on Tuesday.

A meeting took place on Tuesday between the two agencies’ managers, Roscosmos head Vladimir Popovkin and ESA boss Jean-Jacques Dordain, at which the two sides exchanged information about their work on the project and affirmed the final wording of the Russian and English agreement texts.

“The approval process for a final version of the agreement with the ESA council will be completed by March 13-14, 2013. The agreement will be signed following completion of this process by the managers of Roscosmos and the ESA’s General Director on March 15 in Paris,” Vedisheva said.